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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club

Remember my whole caveat about how I'm drowning in pen pals and can't take on any more? Yeah, that's still true. But since so many of my blog readers are still looking to connect with more pen pals, I wanted to share this new phenomenon, which has been a Twitter/Tumblr sensation since its launch just last week: International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club.

It appears to be a pen pal matching service that works in rounds, and it looks like the second round is closed already. The first round reached 1000 pen pallers in 3 days, and the second round reached 1000 correspondents in 26 hours. Wow!

As with any new pen pal matching endeavor, stay tuned to see how it goes. I really hope that all 2000 of those folks who signed up will genuinely exchange some great mail, and I hope the service continues, because it certainly looks fun.

Their blurb says "we are reviving the lost art of letter writing," and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you may be aware of how I get a bit touchy when someone asserts that letter writing is a "lost art." Maybe you lost it, folks, but it's been with me and lots of others, going strong! Still, as I always try to remind myself, any efforts to get anyone to write more letters are worthy and appreciated.

Did any of my readers make it in the first two rounds? Any thoughts on the experience?

We're guilty of having lost it... Honestly for us, I think we just don't know people who are into it. Pen Pal websites are spammy and 90's and you never know who you'll hook up with, and I don't know anyone who has an interest in Pen Pallery. :) But we're glad you're into the project and glad you are posting about it :D Sounds like you've been into Pen Pallery for a long time!

Thanks for your comment, Leslie. If you're interested in finding other people who have been into pen palling for a long time, just check out all the links on my left-hand sidebar, particularly the "Letter Blogs." Or have a gander at The Letter Writers Alliance, which is one of the best organizations out there; they also do pen pal matching. Clearly with your own project, though, you've connected with thousands of folks who are interested, so good for you!

I caved and signed up for Round 2... looking forward to it. ;) I also get a little ruffled when people assume no one is writing letters anymore, haha. But like you said, any effort to keep it going is a good one!

I have enough pen pals without taking on more and, like you, I have never thought of letter writing as a lost art. But I think it is being revisited by lots in people as a backlash against the ever-increasing amount of technology and technical-savvy we are expected to cope with as we use our computers. Good luck to all who participate and if they get half as much enjoyment as I do they'll be thoroughly pleased with it.

My mailbox overfloweth so I really shouldn't add yet another address to my list, but I was investigating the project, as a proper mail enthusiast might, and clicked to see what the "Get a PenPal" page looks like, and there was this form to list five favorite geeky things, and I decided to fill in the form just to see what the five top things that came to mind are, and somehow I went on to fill in contact details, and then hit a submit button. It was all so quick. And really, who can resist a form that asks for lists?

Anyway, I am in the first group and sent off my letter to a new penpal in Indiana who seems quite wonderful, but has never heard of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so I suspect much of my initial correspondence will be of the persuasive sort as I try to get her to read one of my favorite books.